The purpose of this book is to describe the development of automatic weapons and ammunition which are larger than the usual rifle calibres. The majority of these have
calibres of between 12.7 and 57mm, although reference will be made to some smaller and larger weapons for the sake of comparison. There is also a comprehensive
summary of heavy shoulder-fired rifles – anti-tank weapons and their modern equivalents – in Appendix 1.

The book assumes no prior knowledge of weapons and ammunition and there are no formulae. However, there is much that will interest the knowledgeable enthusiast as
a result of research into primary sources, mainly at the Ministry of Defence Pattern Room in the UK, but also with contributions from other researchers around the
World. It contains much information that has never been published before.

The book will be a useful reference as the complete data tables and cartridge and weapon illustrations in the Appendices are unavailable in any other publication.
However, it has been written with the aim of explaining and evaluating as well as merely describing. It is intended to be essential reading for anyone with an interest in
the technical aspects of military history.

It has 297 pages, 160 black & white photos, 32 pages of colour photos and around 30 pages of line drawings.

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THE SECOND WORLD WAR: EXPERIENCE AND CONCLUSIONS – armament fits and effectiveness; the influence of armour; ammunition capacities and combat
persistence; tracer ammunition usefulness; bomber defensive installations and effectiveness; the Soviet and Japanese design comparisons

POSTWAR DEVELOPMENTS IN WESTERN NATIONS – large-calibre plans; updates of the wartime guns (the US .5" M3, 20mm M3 and M24, the British 20mm Mk 5);
the USN Mk 12; international development of the Mauser MG 213C revolver cannon; the USN Mk 11; Project Vulcan and the M61; Bofors 20mm aircraft guns

The metric calibre, rim and body diameters, country of origin/main use, projectile type/weight, muzzle velocity, muzzle energy and the principal weapon applications for
95 cartridges which have seen service. In some cases several different loadings are given.

TABLE 2: MISCELLANEOUS MILITARY CARTRIDGES

Similar information to Table 1 for 7 cartridges currently under development, 30 experimental/limited service rounds, 4 used in manually operated repeaters, 13 for
shoulder-fired heavy weapons,11 rifle-calibre machine gun cartridges and 13 rounds for manually-loaded cannon, selected for comparative purposes.

TABLE 3: SERVICE HEAVY AUTOMATIC WEAPONS 11.35-57MM

The name, metric calibre, weight, length, barrel length, method of operation, cartridge feed and rate of fire for about 200 different weapons which have seen service,
grouped by nationality.

TABLE 4: EXPERIMENTAL/LIMITED SERVICE WEAPONS

Similar information to Table 3 for about 60 weapons which saw little or no service, or have completed development but not yet been officially adopted, or are still under
development.

TABLE 5: ANTI-TANK AND MODERN HEAVY RIFLES

The name, country of origin, metric calibre, weight, length, barrel length, method of operation and cartridge feed for 20 different anti-tank weapons which saw service,
and 13 modern rifles firing 11.35-20mm ammunition.

TABLE 6: RIFLE CALIBRE MACHINE GUNS

Information for comparative purposes on 28 weapons used in the 20th Century, including medium MGs, light MGs, GPMGs, aircraft guns and externally-powered guns.

APPENDIX 3: COMPARATIVE SCALE DRAWINGS OF CARTRIDGES

Drawings prepared by J-F Legendre of 94 different cartridges of calibres 11.35-57mm used in service automatic weapons. Includes such little-known items as the
24x138 and 34x239 Swiss cartridges , the 23x260mm for the Rikhter R-23, all of the 30mm, 37mm and 57mm Japanese aircraft gun rounds to see service, the 37x195
for the Soviet NS-37, the 50x346B for the FlaK 41 and both of the Bofors 57mm rounds (short and long case).

APPENDIX 4: COMPARATIVE DRAWINGS OF WW2 AIRCRAFT GUNS

Drawings prepared by A G Williams of 44 aircraft guns of 12.7-57mm calibre used in the Second World War. Includes the 12.7mm Scotti, Breda-SAFAT, Beresin and
Ho-103, the 20mm Solothurn S18-350, MG 204, Beresin and Japanese Ho-1, Ho-3 and Ho-5, the 23mm VYa and NS-23, the 30mm MK 103M and Japanese Type 2,
Type 5 and Ho-155, the 37mm US M4, M10 and M9, Soviet NS-37, German BK 3.7 and Japanese Ho-203 and Ho-204, the 40mm Japanese Ho-301 and Vickers S gun,
50mm BK 5 and MK 214A, and 57mm Ho-401 and Molins gun

APPENDIX 5: COMPARATIVE DRAWINGS OF POSTWAR FIGHTER GUNS

Drawings prepared by A G Williams of 12 fighter aircraft guns of 20-37mm calibre introduced into service in the postwar era. Includes the Soviet NR-23, N-37, NR-30,
GSh-23, GSh-6-23 and GSh-301, the US 20mm Mk 12, M39 and M61 and the European Aden/DEFA, Oerlikon KCA and Mauser BK 27.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Explanations of over 300 acronyms and technical terms used in this book. Edited version available HERE